The invention relates to systems for dispensing beverages from bottles, and more particularly to a transponder identification system including for dispensing measured amounts of liquid from an identified bottle for accounting quantity and cost.
A bartender commonly pours liquor from a bottle into a glass in which a drink is being mixed. A pourer spout is often attached to the mouth of the bottle to dispense the liquor at a relatively constant flow rate so that the bartender can xe2x80x9cfree pourxe2x80x9d the liquor without the need for a measuring device, such as a jigger. Even at a constant flow rate, the exact amount of liquor poured into each drink varies depending upon the bartender, and varies from drink to drink poured by the same bartender. Such variation affects the profits derived from a given bottle of liquor. In addition, simple bottle spouts do not provide any mechanism to ensure that each drink dispensed from a bottle was rung up on the cash register. Thus, a bartender has been able to serve free or generous drinks to friends and preferred customers without accounting to the tavern management.
In response to these problems, more sophisticated liquor dispensing equipment has been devised. One such system is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,920,149 and provides each bottle with a pourer spout that has a magnetically operated valve. When liquor was to be poured from a given bottle, its spout was placed inside an actuator ring that is connected to a computer via a cable. When the bottle and the ring were inverted, a switch closed, causing an electromagnetic driver coil in the ring to be energized, which opened the valve in the spout. The valve was held open for a defined period of time which dispensed a given volume of liquor because of a relatively constant flow rate through the spout. When that time period ends, the electromagnetic coil was deenergized by the computer, and the valve closed.
An improved and further developed version of the system of the noted ""149 patent is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,603,430. The ""430 patent provides a mechanism for automatically dispensing a predefined quantity of beverage from a container. The mechanism uniquely identifies the bottle from which the beverage is being poured, to account for the total quantity of beverage dispensed from that specific bottle. This also enables the inventory of the bar to be determined automatically at any instant in time. The mechanism calculates the total dollar value of beverage which has been dispensed from a bottle, and from all the bottles in a given bar during a specific period of time. A separate pourer spout is placed on each bottle, and each spout has a flow passage controlled by a magnetically operable valve and a transponder which transmits an identification code that is unique to that particular spout. The valve is operated by an actuator that is placed near to the spout in order to dispense the liquid. The actuator includes a valve operating driver coil that when energized produces a magnetic field which opens the valve. An interrogator is provided for activating the spout transducer and reading the identification code. A memory provides a group of storage locations associated with the identification code. Depending upon the sophistication desired for inventory and sales monitoring, the storage locations contain a variety of data related to the dispensing of liquid from the bottle to which the spout is attached. For example, such information can include the quantity of liquid dispensed from a bottle and a number of volume units of liquid present in that bottle when full, and/or the price of the liquid per volume unit. Other information can include the interval to hold the valve open to dispense a serving of liquid, a volume of a serving and the total sales of that kind of liquid. By storing the name of the liquid, the name can be displayed to the user while dispensing is occurring. A controller is connected to the interrogator to receive the identification code from the pourer spout and is connected to the actuator to control production of the magnetic field to open the stopper valve for a predetermined period of time, the controller being coupled to the memory and updating the data regarding a volume dispensed from the liquid container in response to the valve being opened, the controller including the mechanism for calculating a quantity of liquid remaining in the liquid container.
Another beverage dispenser coding device is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,295,611. The ""611 patent shows a non-contact coding device working in a magnetic field, for use with a liquor bottle pourer spout and a electromagnetic valve. A primary coil on an actuator ring couples with a secondary coil in the pourer spout to read the identification code.
The present invention provides an improved identification system enabling easier detection, and greater strength and integrity of detected signal. A beverage dispenser transponder identification system is provided including a pourer spout for insertion into a bottle containing a beverage, the pourer spout having an electromagnetically actuator stopper valve for dispensing the beverage, the pourer spout having an rf receive/transmit antenna coupled to an identification transponder circuit. The system includes an actuator for activating the pourer spout, the actuator having a driver coil for actuating the stopper valve, an rf transmit antenna connected to an oscillator, and an rf receive antenna connected to a decoder. The rf transmit antenna broadcasts an rf signal to the rf receive/transmit antenna which is conducted to the identification transponder circuit which sends an identification signal to the rf receive/transmit antenna which is broadcast to the rf receive antenna and received by the decoder to identify the pourer spout. The oscillator and decoder are separately connected to separate different antennas, namely the rf transmit antenna and the rf receive antenna, respectively. The oscillator and the decoder are ohmically isolated from each other. The oscillator is connected to the rf transmit antenna by a first conductor, and the rf receive antenna is connected to the decoder by a second conductor. The second conductor carries only the signal from the rf receive antenna and not the signal on the first conductor from the oscillator. The second conductor carries only the signal from the rf receive antenna without interference from the signal from on the first conductor from the oscillator, to reduce degradation of and identifiability and integrity of desired detection otherwise due to presence of an additional signal from the oscillator, such that the signal on the second conductor from the rf receive antenna to the decoder is easier to detect and has greater strength and integrity.